Long-term care group wants information on alleged Wettlaufer crimes

Long-term care group wants information on alleged Wettlaufer crimes

An advocacy group for Ontarians in long-term care has filed a legal application to get three police forces that investigated serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer's murders to turn over their investigative materials about any additional crimes she's alleged to have committed.

An advocacy group for Ontarians in long-term care has filed a legal application to get three police forces that investigated serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s murders to turn over their investigative materials about any additional crimes she’s alleged to have committed.

The Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils (OARC) says it wants to know more from the OPP, and the Woodstock and London police about two alleged crimes Wettlaufer had previously talked to police about.

Legal documents filed by the OARC say that after hearings in a provincial inquiry into long-term care triggered by Wettlaufer’s murder spree ended last year, new information surfaced that Wettlaufer “made disclosures to correctional staff about harming other residents in her care.”

“According to information now available, the Woodstock police service and the London police service conducted investigations which appear to involve the Ontario Provincial Police,” the document reads. “The specifics of Ms Wettlaufer’s disclosures have not entered the public domain.”

Wettlaufer, a long-term care nurse, used insulin injections to kill eight residents of two Southwestern Ontario nursing homes — seven at Caressant Care in Woodstock and another at Meadow Park in London — between 2007 and 2014. She also tried to kill other vulnerable people in her care and assaulted two more.

Now serving a life prison sentence, Wettlaufer pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, four of attempted murder and two of aggravated assault.

A spokesperson for public inquiry into Ontario’s long-term care homes confirmed the OARC has filed “a request to issue a summons in the additional cases.”

“The judge (Commissioner Eileen Gillese) has asked all parties, including commission counsel, to make submissions on this,” Peter Rehak said Monday. “She will look at all the submissions and issue a ruling that will be made public.”

Rehak said submissions need to be filed by this Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Gillese is presiding over the public inquiry looking into how Wettlaufer managed to commit her crimes undetected for so long. The inquiry was called the same day Wettalufer was sentenced.

Ontario has the country’s largest and most complex long-term care system, made up of more than 600 homes and more than 70,000 residents.